Radio review

Femme Fatale - The Story of Nico (Radio 4) began with a cracking quirky anecdote from Marc Riley, presenting this account of the legendary Velvet Underground chanteuse. Riley recalled a night in Manchester in the early 80s, when he found himself in "a subterranean lair known as Rafters".

Improbably, Nico was also there, he explained, "quaffing a half of best local bitter". She approached him a little later, asking him in her husky, low voice: "Have you seen my cloak?" A good tale to begin with, but the telling highlighted a problem with this documentary, and that was Riley's delivery. What he had to say was full of verve and atmosphere but he sheds much of his presenting charisma when he reads out a script. It was actually quite hard to stick with his words, so deadened were they by the way he read them.

When he went off-piste later and talked without a script to contributors, everything came back to life, and could breathe a little. I liked the accounts of Nico's temper ("she booted me full in the balls") and also the chat with her son, Ari, who enjoyed an unconventional upbringing. "What age were you taking drugs?" asked Riley. "Four," came the reply.